Firmware may be used during the initialization of a computing or mobile platform to configure and verify the integrity of the platform. A computing or mobile platform (e.g., a smartphone or tablet device) may comprise numerous hardware and/or ancillary components that may each have its own set of firmware. Such firmware may be updated on a periodic basis to improve a component's performance or add new features to the component device.
Each component manufacturer may develop its own individual solution for updating the component's firmware. Moreover, the component manufacturer may develop different solutions for different operating systems and platforms. A platform developer and/or manufacturer may be overburdened by having to learn and/or deploy these differing solutions. The platform developer and/or manufacturer may also have integrity and/or security concerns when firmware updates are written using different protocols. Furthermore, each component manufacturer may release its firmware update at a different time and may inundate the platform developer and/or manufacturer with multiple firmware updates over a short period of time.
Finally, the platform developer and/or manufacturer may irritate the end user of the computing platform or mobile device by pushing too many firmware updates to the computing platform or mobile device's end users. The end user may feel bombarded by a steady stream of firmware updates and may opt to for a different computing platform or mobile device that does not deliver its firmware updates in a piecemeal fashion.